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DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY:
by
Paul Marshall
School of Psychology
January 2009
1
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This dissertation would not have been possible without the constant support,
leader of this Msc degree. From the start Dr. Boniwell showed interest in my
pursue my theoretical orientation. I feel deep gratitude towards her for this.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ……....……………………………………………… 1
ABSTRACT …..………….………………………………………………………. 3
PSYCHOLOGY? ……………………………………………………………..…. 4
OF WELL-BEING …………………………….……………………………….... 40
9. CONCLUSION …………………………………………………………………70
APPENDIX A …………….………………………………………………………..86
APPENDIX B …………………………………………………………………….. 87
APPENDIX C …………………………………………………………………….. 88
ENDNOTES.. …………………………………………………………………….. 91
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ABSTRACT
Piaget and including scholars like Lawrence Kohlberg, Jane Loevinger, Robert Kegan and Kurt
Fischer, postulates the existence of qualitatively different stages of development through which
individuals move as they mature and grow. The humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow, a
major precursor and early proponent of a ‘positive psychology’ (Maslow, 1954), also proposed
his famous hierarchy of needs, which similarly follows a developmental, hierarchical trajectory.
its overall framework, and positive psychology is no exception. This dissertation argues that
there is a wealth of evidence, added to by the emergence of new and more sophisticated stage
models and methodologies, that supports the notion of developmental stages, and that a stage
conception of individual (especially adult) development might help shed greater light onto
The dissertation begins with an introduction that outlines the reasons for undertaking this
theoretical study and considers why the timing may now be right for the incorporation of the
notion of developmental stages. Chapter two and three offer a literature review and critical
how a developmental stage conception might be profitably applied to five areas within positive
positive adult development. Each of these remaining chapters gives an overview of the area’s
current treatment within positive psychology and then reflects on how a developmental
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
While studying the various concepts and constructs of positive psychology I was
rational analysis and comparative reflection, I focused first on the intuition that
one factor that would likely influence an individual’s notion of well-being was
began to see how a person’s developmental stage might also influence many
Kegan, and Kurt Fischer. The field of developmental structuralism thus serves
as the developmental or vertical lens through which to consider the five chosen
Both are positive and progressive and see the development of human nature as
pathology when thwarted (Linley and Joseph, 2004). CDP has mapped some of
these structures and positive psychology concerns itself with the study of what
of reasons (see chapter two for a discussion), only relatively recently become a
thriving area of research. Second, the notion of stage conceptions has gone
through surges of influence and decline, with a new resurgence appearing quite
recently.
Until around 1980, the classical structuralism of Piaget, Kohlberg and others
due largely to its static view of psychological structure and its tendency to
conflate structure and form (Fischer and Bidell, 2006), together with the fact that
2007), meant that its influence, including its notion of stages, began to decline.
specific contexts. Yet just as organicism runs the risk of reified structuralism, so
valuing instead the levelling or flattening of all systems of thought that rely on
2007, P.132).
7
Witherington (2007) traces two major camps within this dynamic systems
perspective: one ‘purely contextualist’ approach that focuses only on the local,
cogently put forward by Marc Lewis and Kurt Fischer and his colleagues (e.g.
Fischer and Bidell, 2006), that aims at integrating organismic and contextualist
This dynamic systems approach also offers new tools and nonlinear dynamic
growth models for analysing development, allowing for greater precision and
study both micro- and macro-development together (e.g Fischer and Bidell,
2006), for example, it is possible to integrate the core difference between the
Other recent advances that have given greater force to the notion of
developmental psychology (Dawson et al, 2005), which are ideally suited for
8
(Commons et al, 1998; Fischer, 1980; Dawson et al 2005); and recent studies
that show correlations between the discontinuities of brain growth with the
2006).
A final reason why the ‘timing’ might be right for including the notion of nested
hegemony, the dialectical swing seems ready for a new, higher-order synthesis
that includes both vertical stages and horizontal, contextual variability. This
synthesis would allow for both stability and variability, commonalities and
present in all natural systems, and vital for growth. Investigated and handled
any sequence and to facilitate healthy growth at each stage and through the
psychology.
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CHAPTER TWO
A LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
This literature review will begin with a brief overview of adult developmental
psychology to give the appropriate context, and will then focus more specifically
(CDP). CDP will be its main focus since the dissertation’s fundamental objective
might offer further insight into specific areas of positive psychology. It will
consider first the earlier, more classical stage models of CDP, like Piaget’s
will subsequently focus on more recent models and theories, for example
Even newer models and metrics, those of Kurt Fischer, Michael Commons and
in the next chapter (see also chapters seven and eight and Appendix C).
The review will finish with a discussion of two attempts to bring coherence and
connection between all the disparate stage models, including a look at how the
adult development. The first is largely due to the influence of Freud, who not
ended, but also framed adult development in negative terms, emphasising what
an adult should not do or be. Psychology thus failed to study what positive adult
Another reason is that adulthood was, until recently, seen as linear and marked
by certain key events – like starting work, marriage, having children and retiring.
This meant that such things as qualitative changes, movement towards greater
meaning-making were left largely unstudied – CDP proves the exception here.
Hoare’s final reason is the simple fact that at the beginning of the twentieth
century life expectancy, in the US for example, was only 47. In 1933 it was 59
and in 1959 it was 69. Now life expectancy is around 80 and there are many
more people in middle adulthood and late adulthood than ever before.
are now starting to focus on what constitutes and facilitates positive adult
development and well-being. This is, of course, ideal terrain for positive
psychology and CDP, which together might be able to make solid contributions.
There are many different theories of adult development and several ways of
skipped and are unidirectional. The stage theories of CDP are generally of this
through childhood and adolescence but claims that there is no such hierarchical
Jean Piaget, and it was he who pioneered developmental stage models (Beilin,
1992; Brainerd, 1996; Flavell, 1996; Crain, 2005). He showed that children’s
12
reasoning changed qualitatively over time and that the way in which they know
and understand the world evolves and develops. He postulated that these
each posterior stage integrating the previous stages and each anterior stage
serving as the necessary condition for the emergence of the next higher stage.
CDP stems from his work and is so called because it sees individuals as
actively constructing knowledge through their interaction with the world, actively
reality.
Piaget’s contribution has been enormous and his four stages – sensorimotor,
intense scrutiny and appear to be universal (see chapter three for some
critiques). However, there are many developmentalists that posit stages beyond
early adulthood and beyond Piaget’s ‘final’ formal operational stage (see e.g.
Commons, Richards and Armon, 1984) and there is also a general consensus
framework, was among the first to extend Piaget’s stages – both beyond
reasoning (Kohlberg and Ryncarz, 1990), two under each of three broad
stages will be discussed more fully below. Kohlberg’s stages have been
overemphasising rules, rights and abstract principles rather than the more
There are two other major criticisms of Kohlberg’s work. One is that it shows a
other is that moral reasoning does not necessarily lead to moral behaviour,
which is perhaps more important. Kohlberg assumes it does but evidence for
the link is not clear. Kohlbergians have often neglected the role that emotional
development, this time ‘stages of faith’. He has delineated six stages that follow
as most important in life – of our ‘master story’. His stages of faith are therefore
not necessarily religious: they are broader and can embrace agnostic beliefs as
well. This model bears many similarities with Kohlberg’s and Piaget’s models in
that it aims at the underlying structure of faith, not its content, and that they form
meaning-making.
14
Jane Loevinger and Robert Kegan, two other key developmental structuralists,
make a useful distinction between functional stages, like Erik Erikson’s, that
follow the development of individuals as they face new roles and cultural and
social demands; soft structural stages, like Jane Loevinger’s, Robert Kegan’s
and James Fowler’s, that include affective and/or reflective elements; and hard
structural stages, like Piaget and Kohlberg’s, that have all the formal properties
of a stage that Piaget maintained. (These formal properties are: the stages are
(hard stages) and ‘maximalists’ (soft stages) is made by Noam (1993). Both
point to the gradual broadening of the structures being examined since Piaget’s
Jane Loevinger’s theory of ego development is broader than all the theorists
mentioned so far. It describes the evolving self or ego and its progressive
the world. It is often claimed that Loevinger’s concept of ego is indebted to the
psychoanalytic view (e.g Noam, 1993), but Loevinger herself denies such a
the ego, she sees it broadly as a ‘master trait’ of personality that covers
test (WUSCT), which uses a series of 36 sentence beginnings like: Crime and
then have to complete. This test has been rigorously refined and validated and
has been called “one of the most sophisticated tools that has ever been built for
Both her theory and her test have been critiqued. As to the theory, it has been
claimed that the underlying logic behind the stage sequence lacks
1999); that her concept of ego is too broad and encompasses substructures
that may have their own developmental lines (Noam, 1993); that there is no
and that her integrated stage is too vague (Cook-Greuter, 1994, 1999). As to
the test, the validity has been criticised for being just a question of verbal
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fluency, given that people at later stages write much longer protocols. This
critique has been countered by the claim that a) individuals at later stages
possess greater verbal fluency due to their greater complexity and creativity,
WUSCT includes many more factors than verbal fluency (Torbert et al, 2004).
on Loevinger is that her stage model and sentence completion test is used as
the basis by two other key developmentalists to be studied in this review later
Loevinger’s model – together they form Kohlberg and Armon’s ‘soft’ and
Noam’s ‘maximalist’ stage models; they both conceive the self or ego as a
totality, as a meaning-making system in relation with the world and others and
1980, 1994). His theory, based on what he calls the subject-object relationship
various types of opposites like self and other, differentiation and integration,
Kegan’s model also describes not just the stages but also the transitions
between stages, and also stresses the price of development: the move from
meaning and relation to oneself and the world (Kegan, 1980). These two
Loevinger’s stages are more nuanced since she describes nine levels whereas
Kegan has only five. His fifth ‘interindividal’ stage comprises three discrete ones
both. Both aim to assign a specific stage and thus tend to omit answers or self-
descriptions that are outside the overall frame; and the SCT answers often
other at mid and still others at later stages (Noam, 1993). Both have good
validity, although Loevinger’s has been used and analysed much more than
and expense.
Cook-Greuter
professional development. From this base, he has developed his nine ‘action
logics’ and Leadership Development Profile (LDP). Each action logic shows
how an individual, especially managers, interpret their own and others’ actions
and how they keep power or protect against threats (Rooke and Torbert, 2005).
Torbert and colleagues have applied his action logics to personal and
organisational transformation and have found that the first three action logics
‘achievers’, and that the last three stages showed consistent ability to
have also gone on to the important study of what facilitates movement to a later
stage. These findings are very relevant to several of the areas of positive
development.
19
model for some twenty years. She has refined both the theory of Loevinger – by
and, above all, Loevinger’s final stage, by concentrating on SCT scores above
mentioned above, she has worked closely with William Torbert in the
Two further, related models are Abraham Maslow’s ‘Hierarchy of Needs’ and
and relevant for this study and research proposal since he is a mediator
one of its major precursors. His theory of motivation and hierarchy of needs
(Maslow, 1943; 1954) cannot, strictly speaking, be said to belong within the
ranks of CDP since it has not gone through the rigorous empirical testing of the
other stage models. Nevertheless, the theory appears solid and after over 60
years still remains influential today. Several other theories have been based on
Initially, Maslow’s final need was the need for self-actualisation, but he later
added the need for self-transcendence, which coincides with the later stages of
Cook-Greuter and Wade (1996) (see below). This later need is discussed in
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, but it expanded into his own theory of ‘Levels of
(the first four needs) and being needs (self-actualisation and, later, self-
values (the first six) and being values (the last two).
While the data that Graves’ collected was much more extensive than Maslow’s
understandable in the 1950’s – and he died before he could publish all his
individual and group, inner and outer (Graves, 1981, 1974). His stages also
Graves’ work has been continued and popularised by Don Beck and Chris
Graves’ model, however, one that clearly differentiates it from Loevinger and
stage models, each with their own specific focus and perspective. There have
been two serious attempts at bringing some kind of coherence and connection
The first is Jenny Wade’s study of all of the stages discussed here (except
Fowler’s) and several others (Wade, 1996). She outlines nine stages, giving a
A different approach is taken by Ken Wilber (2000b, 2006), who uses the notion
in all the different stage models. It reflects research that shows that the various
usually is, quite uneven. The lines, however, are not completely independent. It
would seem that the cognitive line is necessary-but-not-sufficient for the other
however, would not, according to Wilber, be possible. Wilber also believes that
22
Cook-Greuter adds a fourth broad stage, which she calls transcendent. Maslow
and Graves divide their stages into deficiency/survival and being needs/values.
These are useful delineations that can be used to compare generally all the
various stages in the different models. So, for example, we can compare the
Conclusion
structuralism, bearing witness to its rich history and rigorously researched stage
models. These models have their shortcomings (see chapter three), but can be
this dissertation to gain greater precision and further insights. Particularly useful
are the broader models and measures of Loevinger (and Cook-Greuter and
Torbert), Kegan and those that have developed more recently that use a
The stage models outlined in this review all point in a direction of greater care
and complexity, with further growth, in general terms, being beneficial to both
the individual, in terms of greater inner freedom and autonomy, and the
which growth can be facilitated through these stages are two key aims of this
dissertation.
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CHAPTER THREE
INTRODUCTION
various critiques of the paradigm and controversies that surround its stage
theories. The critiques are divided into two main areas: philosophical and
defined by its belief that there are structures underlying all human behaviour
several periods and covers vast terrain, which is largely beyond the scope of
this essay. In cognitive psychology, Jean Piaget was one of the pioneers of
Developmental Constructivism
Underlying constructivism is the notion that the world is not just perceived but in
some way constructed, a notion that emerged in full force with Immanuel Kant
who claimed that what we see is the result of ‘categories’ of the mind acting
upon “the thing in itself”. This key notion of construction was then combined with
over time, and elaborated by the other great German Idealists Schelling and
was also traced, in their different ways, by Dilthey and Foucault who considered
being used in the mid to late 19th century sense of development) traces the
knowledge itself, that is to say of the cognitive relations between subject and
postmodernism and the point of divide between the modern and postmodern.
Wilber (2000b) adds two further key tenets of postmodernism: first, meaning is
THEORIES
One, from a Diltheyan perspective (de Mul, 1997), points to three main areas.
While both Dilthey’s and Piaget’s visions of development have much in common
development Piaget traces are overly intellectual and formal categories while
Dilthey adds both feeling and will to rationality. This I feel is a valid critique and
critique is that Piaget didn’t stress sufficiently the influence that the social ‘life-
Vygotsky’s position would seem the more appropriate. More recent theories,
like Fischer’s dynamic skill theory (see below), also incorporate Vygotsky’s
Other critiques come from the more ‘hardline’ postmodernists Lyotard, Foucault
and Derrida. Jos de Mul and Michiel Korthals (1997) trace many of their
De Mul and Korthals outline three areas of criticisms. The first focuses on the
follow a linear path towards an increasingly moral society and that, if anything,
regress is more accurate. However, if we view human history over the long
Both Lyotard and Foucault, say de Mul and Korthals, deny any developmental
conflicting and biased interpretations that serve specific interests of power. For
answer to such criticism, it is quite plausible to argue that the structures and
disciplinary and repressive are, to the contrary, a road map to liberation. They
individuals, each in their own unique way, move towards the fulfilment of their
own potentials. The research done to date suggests that the further people
move along the developmental spiral, the greater their awareness, internal
freedom, overall well-being, and ability to cope with the complexities of life in
4, and the other two points, while containing much truth (e.g we are all
paradoxes. They deny the existence of any objective truth or reality (Derrida’s
‘there is nothing outside the text’) only interpretations, and there are an infinite
made. David Ray Griffin (2007) points out that the acceptance of perspectival
relativism as truth entails a number of paradoxes: first, “the truth claim that truth
30
does not exist”; second, “the universal truth about the human condition is that
while the latter embraces all the multiple perspectives that its pluralistic insights
structures or patterns while at the same time allowing for pluralistic surface
CDP paradigm has been criticised on a more empirical level which points to
appraised.
31
THEORIES
The structural stages of CDP have been criticised on several grounds, with
validity.
Hierarchical or non-hierarchical?
These different claims and critiques come from several quarters. Life-span
of capacities unfold ‘on schedule’. Their ‘stages’ (Erikson) or ‘periods’ and ‘eras’
and character formation for example. There are interesting possibilities for
integration of Erikson and Levinson’s models with structural CDP models, which
Others, like Dittman-Kohli and Baltes (1990), for example, while agreeing that
development.
The cross-cultural validity of Piaget’s four stages has been replicated in many
studies, although Alexander et al (1990) discuss how some studies indicate that
The global nature of Piaget’s stages has come under severe criticism and few
would now defend it. His ‘logico-mathematical’ stages are no longer seen to
has been repeatedly shown. Fischer (1980; 2006), for example, believes
have critiqued and expanded Piaget’s endpoint, and have provided evidence for
up to four stages beyond formal operations (e.g Commons and Richards, 2003;
approaches
al’s (1990) suggestion that Piaget (and, presumably, his fellow-travellers) have
position, discussed at the start of this chapter, seems to have led him to
where genes or the environment would restrict the child’s creative construction
Fischer and Silvern (1985) review the evidence for both universal discontinuous
that the data strongly validates both positions and the problem lies in the two
34
each one finding evidence that fits their model. This relates back to Alexander
A promising integration
Fischer and his colleagues have constructed their own promising theory,
originally called skill theory (Fischer, 1980) and now dynamic skill theory
(Fischer and Bidell, 2006), to integrate the two approaches - as well as research
theory has continuously developed since 1980 and Fischer has aligned his
through different domains, some believe that different domains involve different
domains are associated with unique structures and processes, also claim that a
beyond the scope of this chapter but see endnote9, the introduction and
This section will briefly discuss three ‘controversies’: first, the question of
determinism and then the question of what constitutes qualitative change and
whether higher stages are ‘better’ than lower stages, which are both related to
Determinism
general, and the whole of life has evolved through such nested growth (e.g
out that a nested hierarchy is what distinguishes a ‘whole’ from a ‘heap’. Such a
36
without such structural organisation living organisms die, societies collapse and
Nevertheless, early stage conceptions of CDP were somewhat static since they
failed to separate dynamic structure from static form (Fischer and Bidell, 2006)
and the logic of development from the dynamic of development (Kothals, 1997;
Van Haaften, 1997). The conflation of structure and form helped account for
from form, as does the dynamic systems approach expounded by Fischer and
Bidell, helps track both variability and the underlying order. Similarly, only by
separating the logic of stages and their interrelations from the psychological
The key notion here is hierarchical complexity which, in Dawson’s metric (LAS)
level are coordinated (or integrated) into concepts at a new level. Dawson gives
the example of the notions of play and learning which are then integrated at a
researcher has their own levels of complexity that are equivalent, and there is
Apart from development from one level of complexity to another there is also
complexity and integration. This inevitably leads to the next controversy: are
more complex and integrated stages ‘better’ than less complex and integrated
stages?
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‘reconstructive’ claims and ‘evaluative’ claims (Van Haaften, 1997a and 1997b;
additional, normative claim as to whether later stages in that pattern are ‘better’
or not. In practice, it is often assumed that later stages are better than earlier
variation of the naturalistic fallacy” (p. 77). Reasons beyond the mere fact that a
stage occurs later than an earlier one are needed to justify it being ‘better’.
Piaget, for example, uses the pragmatic argument that later stages are more
adaptive ways of viewing reality and Kohlberg has used the formal criteria of
point to the fact that later stages are more fulfilling (Miller and Cook-Greuer,
structures (Kegan, 1982). All explicitly state that later stages are more complex
and hierarchically integrated. They are cumulative, each later stage building
stages.
Because later stages include yet transcend, differentiate from and reintegrate
earlier stages at a new, emergent level, then we can say that they are ‘better’ or
more adequate in the sense of being more inclusive and holistic. But each
39
earlier stage is necessary for the construction of each later stage and in that
sense all stages are equally valuable, all irreplaceable parts of the whole.
We could perhaps also claim that since later stages lead to greater internal
freedom and fulfilment for the individual and greater social harmony, due to an
increasing ability to take multiple perspectives, for the collective, then positive
institutions like schools, that facilitate such development - at natural speeds and
all the while respecting the integrity and value of each stage – would be
desirable.
CONCLUSION
This chapter has briefly outlined the philosophical and epistemological context
shortcomings of its original framework and mentioned several ways in which the
number of controversies that have caused tension within and without the area
CHAPTER FOUR
applied to the study of five areas of positive psychology. The first of these is the
There are many different notions of happiness or well-being and many attempts
well-being (e.g. Waterman, 1993; Ryan and Deci, 2001; Ryan, Huta and Deci,
Jeremy Benthem, is equated with happiness and pleasure, and studies what
makes experiences and life pleasant or unpleasant (Deiner, Lucas and Oishi,
the SWLS (Satisfaction with Life Scale) and PANAS (Positive Affectivity and
and illustrate the hedonic notion of Subjective Well-Being (SWB). SWB consists
Eudaimonic well-being (from the Greek eu, ‘well-being’, and daimon, ‘spirit’ or
‘inner self’), on the other hand, is linked philosophically with Aristotle (especially
his Nicomachean Ethics), the Stoics and existential philosophy, as well as with
humanistic psychology, and has a very different flavour. Aristotle equated true
or authentic well-being with the human good, the expression of virtue and the
(Linley and Joseph, 2004; Maslow, 1954 and 1968) both stressed the
camp, including Carol Ryff’s psychological well-being (e.g Ryff and Keyes,
Ryan and Deci’s self-determination theory (e.g. Ryan and Deci, 2000; Ryan,
Huta and Deci, 2008), which claims there are three fundamental psychological
three, or rather four, different levels of well-being: the pleasant life, the good life,
the meaningful life and the full life. Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi’s notion of flow is
also said to lie within the eudaimonic camp (Nakamura and Csikszentmihalyi,
2005)1.
42
both the theoretical diversity and the prevailing lack of overall conceptual
hedonic pleasure, for others it is contingent upon external conditions like money
and power, and for yet others it results more from internal factors like meaning
and purpose in life. This move from external contingency to internal self-
direction is also seen in the move from earlier to later stages of development,
implicit hierarchy of the pleasant, the good and the meaningful life (Seligman,
2003).
There have been some attempts to link individual notions of well-being with
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. One study, for example, speculates how the many
mention the sub-field of developmental psychology and Maslow, but their own
The stage conceptions of CDP might shed further light on this issue. This would
be quite complex, however, as it is now clear that no one stage model can
capture the full complexity of an individual. As was seen in chapter two, there
(or lines) like faith (Fowler), moral reasoning (Kohlberg), values (Graves) or
needs (Maslow) and any one individual can be at different stages in different
current context, level of support and emotional state (see e.g. Fischer and
Bidell, 2006).
System). The LAS (see Appendix C) has been shown to tap into a cross-
reflective judgement and Armon’s good life stages (Dawson, 2006). (Armon’s
sentence completion test. With Dawson’s LAS, the process would involve
interviewing people about their conceptions of well-being and then scoring the
interviews for their ‘lectical’ or complexity of reasoning level. At the same time
the conceptual content of the interviews would be coded and then the
correlation between the content and the level of complexity could be analysed.
great deal of interesting data to the field that could lead to a more nuanced
overall picture. In this way, a mutual dialogue between the two fields could be
well-being and positive psychology offering and possibly adjusting its existing
captures the essence of a person, that variability is the norm and is affected by
context, emotional state and level of support during a task, and that stages are
not fixed since development through the stages is always open. A fundamental
discover in what ways development leads to greater flourishing and how such
CHAPTER FIVE
VALUES
which organises ten universal values in a circumplex model with two underlying
model has brought greater clarity to the notion of values and their
goals (Grouzet et al, 2005). These models, despite their dynamic, clarifying
nature, still remain horizontal models and might benefit from a developmental
specifically with values and maps how individuals’ value systems develop
hierarchically, its lack of a robust assessment tool rule this model out for this
done in ways similar to those suggested in the previous chapter to study the
The accumulated data from such developmental stage studies could also be
used to see how they correlate with the work of another positive psychologist
materialist and non-materialist values and their relation to well-being, with his
to undermine well-being. They also correlated with poorer physical health and
narcissism. There is a link between his work and CDP since he links values to
values predominate in those people whose needs have not been met.
Specifically, materialistic values a) predominate when the needs for safety and
sustenance are unfulfilled; b) negatively affect the needs for self-esteem and
Like Kasser, political scientist Ronald Inglehart has also based his values
values and self-expression values, which is similar to Maslow’s (1968) two tiers
48
of deficiency and being/growth needs - and also Graves’ subsistence and being
values. With his colleagues, especially Christian Welzel, Ronald Inglehart has
been studying cultural values and their relation to socio-economic and political
development for over three decades. Together they have developed updated
greater conceptual integration. In doing so, they made use of the massive data
base gained from the World Values Survey which, having started in 1981, now
and then in the culture as a whole. This is turn leads to the demand for civil and
political liberties and the creation of effective democracy. They argue that there
choice and autonomy, greater tolerance, quality of life and self-expression. The
arrest and reverse it. The direction is also non-linear: while industrialisation led
has led to a very different cultural process of increased individual autonomy and
They also point out how in agrarian societies religion predominated, but this
values are constrained and authoritarian regimes are the norm. So cultural
change and variation in people’s values occur, they point out, in response to
Their impressive studies also test whether their theory of human development
significant across nations, even controlling for diffusion within cultural zones”
(Welzel, Inglehart and Klingemann, 2003, p. 363). They continue: “The human
cultural level. It is present there to an even higher degree than cultural zones
homogenize nations: cultural zones capture nearly 85 per cent of the cross-
the linkages between these components explain more than 90% of the cross-
culture-specific but universal. Cultural zones differ from each other in ways that
reflect the logic of human development” (p. 365-366). For Welzel, Inglehart and
happiness and quality of life (Inglehart, Foa, Peterson and Welzel, 2008).
These are clearly concerns relevant to positive psychology and there is room for
that also benefits from a vertical dimension. Inglehart, Welzel and their
social and economic progress, a notion that cultural relativism and aspects of
undermined in recent years. As Inglehart and Welzel stress (2005), although the
ideology of cultural relativism arose in protest against the implication that some
societies are more advanced than others, “it has a deeply pernicious aspect: it
human dignity. Slavery and genocide were once accepted in virtually all
widespread. Consistent cultural relativism would reject the claim that these
There are other important studies on values, like sociologist Paul Ray’s twenty-
year study of values and lifestyles and political values (Ray and Anderson,
2000; Ray, 2008) and Brian Hall’s (2006) more than thirty-year study of the
belonging, self-initiating and interdependent) and Ray covers three main groups
CHAPTER SIX
LEADERSHIP
Leadership has been studied from many perspectives over the years, including
behavioural styles; the dynamics between leaders and followers, especially with
from CDP, Rooke and Torbert (2005) relate that “the most remarkable – and
encouraging – finding from our research is that leaders can transform from one
action logic [the name Torbert gives to his developmental stages] to another” (p.
9). A study of the ways in which transformational and authentic leadership are
While still relatively sparse, there are a number of interesting studies that have
operating from the latest three stages (Individualist, Strategist and Alchemist)
research showed that the ability of managers measuring at earlier action logics
significantly lower than that of managers measuring at the next later stage in
used CDP models, focusing on the three most frequently used models of
stages of all three models into three broad stages/orders which they call
order are more effective in modern organisations than those operating at the
Dependent order – e.g they are more likely to delegate, deal more easily with
conflict, use rewards and expertise rather than coercion to motivate and
there are few leaders at the Inter-independent stage little research that studies
the effect of their leadership has been done. Most has been done with
54
Loevinger/Torbert stages, which shows that the higher action logics are more
positive psychology and can have great impact on organisational and employee
2003; see also the chapter on positive adult development). McCauley et al note
how Kegan theorises that individuals at his Interindividual order are more likely
been done to test this. They also mention studies by Torbert that show how the
rather than longitudinal research and, with the exception of Torbert’s research,
One way to do this could be through the use of Dawson’s new cross-domain
metric (the LAS) and methodology (developmental maieutics) (see Appendix C).
In essence, these tools are used to describe, and later assess, developmental
Recently, Dawson and Stein (2008) have used them to analyse the
were then evaluated for their developmental level and conceptual content using
the LAS. The coding of conceptual content uncovered eight themes and 449
concept codes, which were then ordered by the developmental levels in which
they first appeared, and this was used as the basis for further qualitative
with the factors that researchers of implicit leadership theories had also
identified. Although the sample was not representative and the study involves a
first approximation, Dawson and Stein believe the results give a more nuanced
given time (‘synchronic’ psychograph) and how they develop over time
(see figure 1) that includes four specific leadership skills: leadership reasoning,
enable individuals to see where they are and where they might next develop to.
respect might lead to promising results. Because of the versatility of the LAS,
due to its ability to separate developmental level and conceptual content, such
The next chapter examines this possibility and further considers LAS’s
CHAPTER SEVEN
STRENGTHS
Strengths are one of the pillars of positive psychology, and Peterson and
or strengths, which possess both a level of stability and generality yet without
being genetically fixed. They can, in other words, be cultivated and developed.
and virtues” (p. 7)1 that involves a hierarchy of three conceptual levels: virtues,
character strengths and situational themes. Virtues are deemed universal and
are valued by religion and moral philosophy. Character strengths, which have
been placed as key ingredients of specific virtues, all require the acquisition and
employment of knowledge, and yet are distinct from each other. People can
situational themes are habits that arise out of specific settings like the
workplace or the family, and they are value-neutral. They can be used to
acquire strengths and virtues but also for less ethical objectives. According to
Peterson and Seligman, the greater the level of abstraction – from themes to
strengths to virtues – the less the variation and the greater the universality.
Of course, this initial classification does not claim to be exhaustive, but it does
offer a very useful vocabulary with which to empirically study important positive
which are examples of talents and specific work ‘themes’. For Gallup, strengths
are the result of natural talents that are built up through continual practice, skill
potentially be cultivated.
strengths / talents and the domains studied by CDP, opening the way for
spirituality, which Peterson and Seligman’s classification breaks down into faith,
invariant sequence of six stages, with each subsequent stage being more
Seligman (2004) as “the product of moral judgement” and they “follow the lead
the CDP stage models of Piaget, Kohlberg and Gilligan, and much of the
wisdom, has also been related to stage models and postformal thinking2.
59
models that, while not within the tradition of CDP, are close relations: Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs and Erikson’s psychosocial stages. They recast both models
Erikson and Maslow’s stages and also with Maslow’s characteristics of self-
hierarchy but not in the actual details. They also were influenced by Kohlberg,
common critiques: that his stages emphasised abstract rules and justice as
against compassion and care; that they showed cultural bias towards the West;
and that moral reasoning does not necessarily correlate with moral behaviour
(this last point is discussed further below). These are all valid concerns, but the
critique of Maslow and the first two critiques of Kohlberg are addressed by more
recent and sophisticated CDP models that might offer finer detail of hierarchical
development and avoid cultural and gender bias: Fischer’s dynamic skill theory,
developmental maieutics3.
Positive psychology assumes that all strengths can be developed and cultivated
and so with adequate tools they could feasibly be studied to see if they show
specific stage or level sequences. We could hypothesise that strengths like, for
forgiveness, appreciation of beauty and gratitude, all pass through broad stages
used with LAS was explained in the previous chapter and Appendix C gives
particular strength; b) these can then be given to a broad sample, the larger the
skill; c) the resulting text would then be analysed to find its level of hierarchical
Appendix C) and the conceptual content coded for themes and related concept
the level of complexity they first appeared; e) from there, the developmental
This approach has both advantages and limitations. A major advantage is that,
unlike other assessment systems of CDP, it does not require the expense and
time consumption of longitudinal studies, which until now have been the most
further validate the outlined developmental pathways, but they are not initially
61
Stein, 2006) (see footnote 3). Third, the LAS is a general measure that can
measure conceptual reasoning about each of the strengths, but is also domain
different rates in different skill areas and so the LAS applied to strengths would
particular strengths over time. Figures 2 and 3 below are examples of such
psychographs.
content analysis may provide a variety of themes for each strength, thus
possibly breaking it down into sub-strengths and correlates. (This would provide
additional data of interest for each strength which could then be compared to
strengths.
62
12.5
Developmental Level
12
11.5
11
10.5
10
9.5
s
e
ss
e
ip
ity
es
tiv
c
sh
ne
en
gr
irn
ec
en
ve
te
lig
Fa
p
tiz
In
i
el
rs
rg
nt
Ci
Pe
Fo
I
al
ci
So
12.5
Social
12 Intelligence
Citizenship
11.5
Perspective
11
Forgiveness
10.5
10 Integrity
9.5 Fairness
9
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Year of Assessment
people from one level or sub-level to the next. In this way development can
more easily be facilitated. Finally, most strengths have so far been assessed
whole with promising results, have recognised shortcomings like, for example,
The LAS has several limitations, however. Its main limitation is that it is an
fails to assess actual behaviour. This was one of the problems of Kohlberg’s
stages of moral reasoning, which studied moral reasoning rather than moral
behaviour and failed to take sufficiently into account the effect of emotional and
the many other elements that can influence actual behaviour and this is its
major shortcoming.
64
process. However, once they are done they can be used as the basis for
Despite these limitations, the LAS offers the possibility of providing rich
hone existing interventions and create new ones. Other CDP models and
aspects) they might provide data that the LAS is unable to – and thus begin to
CHAPTER EIGHT
the core features of the two disciplines studied in this dissertation. Positive
and CDP focuses on the stages or levels through which individuals develop.
ill-health, so adult development, and within that positive adult development, has
begun to form its own field after decades of focus by developmental psychology
on pre-adult development1.
with positive psychology seems natural and would no doubt benefit both.
excessive individualism, in that order, until reaching the conjoining of one’s own
argues how the experience of flow, the concept for which he is most well-
processes highlighted by CDP. Research into how the experience of flow may
aging (2002; 2004). Among seven predictors were adaptive coping styles
Similarly, the correlation between stage development and the three components
of education that most correlated with physical health in old age (self-care,
factors predictive of positive aging. In this way, the two disciplines could
Many CDP stage models have indicated the benefits of later stages of
the demands of life in the 21st century. Kitchener et al (2006) observe that a key
about and create solutions to difficult problems typical of adult life. Sinnott and
(including one’s shadow), with others and with something larger than oneself.
affects aspects of leadership ability and the possibility that the development of
could reveal more detailed data on the correlation between stage development
and life satisfaction and well-being; on what domains are most conducive to
well-being and how development within those domains can be facilitated; and
researching the relations between the two and interventions to facilitate both.
‘action inquiry’, facilitate stage development3. Research has also shown the
Santerre, 2005)4, and similar research could focus on the positive psychological
other interventions, like, for example, those that encourage the experience of
development. In addition to the above research suggestions, and in line with the
and cultural factors that lead to positive adult development (see footnote 1,
chapter five).
One final area that connects both CDP and positive psychology in relation to
to coaching since both aim at fostering positive growth and facilitating the
69
and Dean (2007) stress well-being and character strengths as the two
tools (chapter four and seven discussed some ways this might be done). And as
developmental shifts and not just horizontal behavioural changes (see Laske,
development, for coaching; and the discussion in chapter seven on how the
CONCLUSION
This dissertation has provided a theoretical enquiry into how the stage
might provide new insights, research findings and conceptual clarity to specific
areas of positive psychology. These areas, save minor exceptions, have not
been studied through a stage developmental lens, yet recent theoretical and
affinities between positive psychology and CDP were pointed to, including their
growth.
dissertation, not only to refine our understanding of how flourishing and well-
factors that lead to greater well-being. There is room for an exciting dialogue
development and how they might lead to greater well-being, with both
significant role.
recognition that stage assessments measure not the ‘overall stage’ or essence
of a person but rather his/her task performances in specific domains that can
vary according to context, emotional state and level of support. There are many
development continues well into adulthood through many of these domains and
so development is not fixed. With the above in mind, research into what
fostering of such development will help equip individuals with the complexity
and inner development that is now required to thrive and flourish in today’s
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APPENDIX A
Kegan’s principles of mental organisation and subject-object relationship
1) They govern both how an individual thinks and how s/he constructs experience in
general, including thinking, feeling and relating to others.
2) They govern how a person thinks, feels and relates to others, not the content - not
what a person thinks, feels and relates.
3) They have a core or ‘deep structure’ which is the subject-object (or self-other)
relationship. This is the essence of his theory. Subject refers to components of our
knowing or mental organising that we are embedded in or identified with. They are
elements that we are, that we experience subjectively. Because we are identified with
them we cannot reflect on them, be in control of or be responsible for them. Object
refers to those aspects of our knowing and mental organizing that we are not
embedded in, that we are dis-identified with, that we can observe and therefore reflect
on, be responsible for, or generally, to use a Piagetian term, ‘operate’ on. They are
elements that we have, and that we experience objectively. As the individual develops,
that which was previously subject becomes object, and a new subject-object
relationship emerges, a new way of knowing (or ‘epistemology’), a new system or
window through which one sees the world. Kegan outlines five such ‘epistemologies’ or
‘orders of consciousness/mind’, each successive order reflecting a qualitative shift in
which a whole mental structure/system that was previously experienced as subject is
now seen as object.
4) They are all closely related to each other. Each new principle of mental organisation
includes or subsumes the previous principle. Each new principle is thus of a higher
order, more complex and encompassing. They are thus developmentally related.
5) This developmental process implies that what we experience as subject and object
are not fixed or permanent. Kegan claims that what we experience through our subject-
object principles is similar to what both the West and East call ‘consciousness’ – hence
his ‘Orders (dimensions) of Consciousness’.
87
APPENDIX B
* Where some of the stages belong is not crystal clear, and the exact point where
postconventional ends and transcendent begins is a little blurry. But the table gives a
general idea of the correlations between the various stage theories.
88
APPENDIX C
THE LAS
The LAS
Layers of Structure
Dawson (2001) breaks verbal performances down into three structural levels, which
she uses to guide assessment. There is a) conceptual content, which includes the
concepts and views expressed and the vocabulary used. Underneath that layer is b)
the surface structure of the text, which includes the conceptual content that reflects
more general concepts associated with specific domains. This is the layer that most
CDP scoring systems target. And beneath that layer is c) the core structure, which is
the level of abstraction or complexity indicated by the conceptual content. It is what
Dawson calls the ‘hierarchical order of abstraction’.
The LAS levels or ‘orders’ are based directly on Fischer’s skill ‘levels’. These levels
show different ways of thinking, ways that are progressively more complex and
hierarchically integrated. The ‘orders’ are divided into tiers and levels (see Stein and
Heikinnen, 2008). The tiers represent significant transformations in ways of thinking
(and acting) and are called reflexes (instinctive reactions of neonates), sensorimotor
89
Each tier, in turn, consists of three levels which coordinate the conceptual elements of
the particular tier in increasingly more complex ways. These levels, which are repeated
in each tier, go from single concepts to linear mappings or relations to complex
systems – with a new tier emerging with further development after each systems level.
The LAS so far has data up to level 13, single principles, although two further levels,
principled mappings and principled systems are also being studied. Commons’ scoring
system, also based on Fischer’s skill theory, has 15 levels. The first 13 correspond to
the LAS levels, and the last two are largely hypothetical (Dawson and Wilson, 2004).
The levels, in turn, are subdivided into four phases: transitional, unelaborated,
elaborated and highly elaborated.
The LAS possesses high statistical reliability and validity. Internal consistency, as
measured by Rasch analysis, which provides estimates of reliability equivalent to
Cronbach’s alpha, is consistently over .95, while inter-rater reliability is high at 80 to
90
97% agreement within 1/2 of a complexity level (Dawson, Commons, Wilson and
Fischer, 2005).
It has also shown convergent validity. Dawson (2006) describes five validation
studies that showed that the Hierarchical Complexity Scoring System (the scoring
system of LAS) assesses the same dimension of performance as several domain-
based cognitive development assessments that have been longitudinally validated.
There was high correspondence with scoring systems for Perry’s epistemological
positions (82% to 98% within one Perry level), for Kitchener and King’s stages of
reflective judgement (.84 correlation), for Armon’s good life stages (.92 correlation) and
for Kohlberg’s moral stages (95% within one complexity level of each other; r= .94).
Furthermore, construct validity for the Hierarchical Complexity Scoring System was
attained by two studies using Rasch scaling to analyse patterns of performance. They
showed that development follows an underlying dimension of hierarchical complexity
and proceeds in discontinuous spurts and plateaus, evidencing qualitative, rather than
cumulative, change. Patterns of performance were also shown to be consistent from
one level to the next, across the lifespan, showing a process of consolidation at a
specific complexity level followed by a period of transition using structures of
contiguous complexity levels and then another period of consolidation at the next level
of complexity. (Dawson, 2006; Dawson, Commons, Wilson and Fischer, 2005). This is
consistent with the postulates of cognitive development theory and CDP that
development proceeds through nested hierarchies of increasing complexity.
91
End notes:
Chapter One:
1
Witherington points to the internal consistency of Thelen and Smith’s pure contextualist
approach but laments that it “loses sight of the organism as an integrated whole” and that by
“privileging… the task-specific particularities of action, the contextualist DSP [dynamic systems
perspective] ultimately undermines its own systems theory origins. A fundamental principle of
general systems theory is that any given form is both a whole in itself – a system in its own right
– and a part of another whole – a component comprising another system” (2007, p.149).
Chapter Three:
1
Kelly and Vygotsky, like Piaget, stressed the proactive role of the individual in knowledge
acquisition and understanding, with Vygotsky also emphasising the critical role played by social
context and cultural surround. Social constructionism, on the other hand, emphasised the huge
role played by language and other cultural sign systems in determining and framing an
individual’s construction of reality (Ashworth, 2008).
2
This is an idea that first emerged in linguistics with Saussure and was expanded to show that
individuals are inextricably embedded in cultural networks and contexts that govern their
interpretation of meaning in ways that are largely hidden.
3
This critique is related to the common critique that Piaget assumed the cognitive domain of
development to govern all other domains. To some extent Kohlberg’s stages of moral reasoning
and to a much greater extent the ‘soft’ stages mapped out by neo-Piagetians like Kegan (1982;
1994) and Fowler (1981), as well as Loevinger’s broader stages of ego development
(Loevinger, 1987), have done much to overcome such criticism as they include aspects of
development beyond formal reasoning like affect and meaning-making (see the section on
empirical critiques for further discussion).
4
In his comparison of Gadamer, Dilthey and Heidegger, de Mul prefers the more active role
Gadamer gives to the human subject in history (as opposed to Heidegger’s underestimation),
but laments Gadamer’s (and Piaget’s) admiration for Hegelian dialectics and his conception of
history and development as an all-embracing integration whereby “the rising to a higher
universality…overcomes not only our own particularity but also that of the other” (quoted in de
Mul, p. 238). This would seem to imply a nondual overcoming of subject and object which
actually has a venerable tradition in both Eastern and Western philosophy and includes not only
Hegel but also Tielhard de Chardin (1959/2002) and Sri Aurobindo (McDermott, 2001), for
example. It is also implicit in Robert Kegan’s subject-object relationship (1982; 2002). And the
Hegelian dialectics is also present in the spiralling nature of development of both Kegan’s and
Graves’ (1981) developmental models.
92
This also brings in the delicate notion of teleology or developmental direction, which is marginal
in evolutionary theory but supported by the tradition just mentioned and also Jürgen Habermas,
whose acceptance of a universal telos de Mul finds ‘remarkable’. Despite its marginality in
evolutionary theory, there are grounds, however, for a compelling argument that development,
and evolution, is going somewhere, for example towards greater differentiation, integration and
complexity (e.g Wright, 2000) but that the actual content of that development is fairly open and
co-created by the subject(s) in their relation with the world (e.g Wilber 2003). There is thus, it is
argued, a general direction, which can be observed through rational reconstruction á la
Habermas of the historical past and in the stage theories of developmental structuralism, but
this does not necessarily imply that the actual content is fixed or that it can never regress. The
spiralling models of some of the stage theories capture this model well and both our long-term
collective and individual histories would seem to corroborate it.
5
While it would seem clear that regress can occur and has occurred, both in individual
development and collective/societal development (Nazi Germany, Gulag Archipelago etc), it
would also seem undeniable that, looking at human history over thousands of years, progress
towards a more reasonable and moral society has been made (e.g. the modern Enlightenment
led, among other things, to the institutionalisation of democracy, the legal abolition of slavery
and the defence of universal human rights). Why this is so is an open question and goes back
to the discussion of teleology and direction (see endnote 4). Progress is not inevitable, but it
does seem the general theme in human history in the long term, at least until to date, and also
in individual development if circumstances are favourable.
6
The differences between structural stages and Erikson and Levinson’s more epigenetic
‘stages’ do not, of course, invalidate either. They are two different types of stages, one more
narrow and precise and the other more broad. There is evidence for both. And in fact Fowler
(1981), for example, takes aspects of both to make an interesting synthesis. In the construction
of his stages of faith, Fowler began with Erikson’s stage conception but later focused more on
the structural stage conception while maintaining Erikson’s framework as a background. He
found that a movement from one faith structural stage to another often correlated with an
Erikson stage – often, but not always. He points to research by Richard Shulik that indicates
that an individual can stabilise, sometimes for a lifetime, at any one stage (from stage 2
onwards) and that this fact, the specific stage at which they stabilise, affects how they respond
to Erikson’s psychosocial crises.
Fowler’s research suggests some interesting links between structural development and
Levinson’s periods and eras. For example, the optimal time to make the transition between the
Synthetic-Conventional stage (stage 3) to the Individuative-Reflective stage (stage 4) appeared
93
to be Levinson’s transition period to the early adult era (age 17-22). Not everyone makes this
transition and Fowler’s research shows that those who do not, may make the transition later in
their twenties or thirties, but with greater difficulty. Yet others remain throughout at stage 3. And
if the transition from stage 3 to 4 is not made before the mid-life transition (age 40-45) then
likelihood of doing so greatly decreases. Fowler remarks that it is easier to enter a new era if we
let go of the structure (here, of faith) that was used during the last phase of the previous era.
7
Furthermore, there has been a proliferation of stage theories since Kohlberg first studied
development beyond pure cognition in his stages of moral judgement, including stage
conceptions of faith, interpersonal perspective taking, ego development, reflective judgement,
values, conceptions of the good life to mention just a few. These, necessarily, have complicated
the search for a common ‘deep structure’ underlying all development, although Fischer,
Commons and Dawson’s promising research in this respect will be discussed below.
8
They mention attempts to reconcile the two approaches through competence/performance
models, with stages being associated with competence and individual differences with
performance. However, these models are severely limited, they say, since they still separate the
stages of organismic structure (competence) from observable variation in functioning
(performance).
9
A few points relevant to the next section on controversies, and to some of the critiques
discussed so far, should be mentioned. What Fischer’s theory, Commons’ model and Dawson’s
metric all have at their centre is the classical stage theory notion of hierarchical complexity and
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LAS, as a domain general metric, has been compared with several domain-specific metrics that
measure Kohlberg’s moral reasoning, Armon’s conception of the good, Perry’s epistemological
understanding and Kitchener and King’s reflective judgement levels with equivalent scores. This
suggest that both the domain specific and LAS metrics are measuring the same latent
dimension – the former indirectly and the latter directly -, which Dawson suggests is hierarchical
complexity (Dawson, 2001; Dawson, 2006; Stein and Heikkinen, 2008).
10
Piaget, and other developmental constructivists, have passionately defended against the
deterministic implications of both empiricist/environmental and innatist epistemology, constantly
highlighting the creative, proactive role of the individual in his/her own development.
11
This includes Piaget’s notion of reflective abstraction (hierarchical integration); Werner’s
orthogenetic principle (that “the one regulative principle of development … that whenever
development occurs it proceeds from a state of relative globality and lack of differentiation to a
state of increasing differentiation, articulation and hierarchical integration” – quoted in Stein and
Heikkinen, 2008, p. 113); Kohlberg’s distinction between moral reasoning and other forms of
reasoning yet at the same time acknowledgment of certain general properties that underlie them
all; Fischer’s unique task-specific and situation-sensitive skills which nevertheless develop
through a comparable process of differentiation and integration; and Commons’ codification of
the construct of hierarchical complexity and his focus on task analysis which analyses the
number of sub-skills that are hierarchically integrated in a task performance.
12
The term development has even been distinguished from the term growth by its connotation
of qualitative or structural change (Van Haaften, 1997a). Van Haaften defines development as “
(a) a process of (b) more or less gradual (c) change, (d) resulting in (what can be reconstructed
as) one or more qualitatively different stages for which (e) the prior stages are necessary
conditions” (p. 18).
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13
Piaget undervalued learning and elevated development and Skinner did the opposite, with
the former comparing learning to “the mastery of circus tricks” and the latter dismissing
development “as an illusion based on cumulative learning” (Fischer and Silvern, 1985, p. 623).
However, contemporary constructivists like Fischer and Dawson stress the complex
interdependence and importance of both. Dawson (2006) uses the term ‘development’ to refer
to both learning and structuring, seeing learning as that aspect of development that involves
knowledge gained from interaction with the external environment (which affects conceptual
content) and structuring as the way the individual organises that knowledge (hierarchical
complexity). “The complex interrelation of learning and structuring makes it impossible to draw a
clear line between two aspects of the developmental process. The conceptual content of a new
developmental level is, at least in part, the result of restructuring the conceptual content of the
previous level. On the other hand, new knowledge is often obtained through interactions with
the external environment in a process that involves both learning and structuring. From a
Piagetian (1985) perspective, new knowledge is either assimilated to existing structures or
accommodated through restructuring. In both processes some kind of structuring takes place.
This means the conceptual content of any performance is the product of both acquisition
(learning) and structuring” (Dawson, 2006, p. 435).
Chapter Four:
1
Seligman (2003) places flow squarely in the eudaimonic camp (for example, flow generally
requires initial effort), although it would seem to have qualities that could fit also in the hedonic
camp (for example, some clearly non-eudaimonic activities, like playing cards, can lead to flow).
One possible explanation is that flow is a state, not a stage, and is therefore, following Wilber’s
(2006) distinction between states and stages, available at any stage.
2
Armon’s good life stages already give some interesting developmental data indirectly
connected to happiness and well-being. Her stages, which delineate an invariant sequence of
value reasoning about the good life, closely follow Kohlberg’s stages of moral judgement. Stage
1 is called ‘egoistic hedonism’, where what is good is that which gives pleasure to the self. In
stage 2, ‘instrumental hedonism’, the person thinks instrumentally about the good life and others
are seen as a means to the self’s ends. In stage 3, ‘affective mutuality’, the Good is shared with
others, relationships and value consensus is important and both happiness and the good life are
defined by the absence of negative affectivity. In stage 4, meaning is important and satisfaction
is based on the fulfilment and realisation of one’s individually-chosen values; relativism can be
more or less prevalent, depending on one’s philosophically hedonistic or perfectionistic
orientation, respectively. Finally, in stage 5, ‘autonomy’, universality or intrinsicality, rather than
the individuality of stage 4, are used as the criteria for value; emphasis is not on the self-
choosing of values but rather on a principled, ethical evaluation of the values’ worth for self,
others and the world (Armon, 1984; Armon and Dawson, 2003).
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Chapter Five:
1
Michael Commons and his colleagues have already begun this conversation, using the notion
of hierarchical complexity (Commons and Goodheart, 2008; Ross and Commons, 2008).
Chapter six:
1
These broad Dependent, Independent and Inter-independent stages are roughly equivalent to
Loevinger/Torbert’s Diplomat and Expert, Achiever and Individualist, and Strategist and
Alchemist stages, respectively. They also correspond roughly with Kegan’s
interpersonal/traditional, Institutional/modern and Interindividual/Post-modern stages,
respectively.
2
LAS’s abstract mappings level roughly correlates with Kegan’s interpersonal stage, or
Kohlberg’s stage 3 (Stein and Heikinnen, 2008).
Chapter Seven:
1
As opposed to a taxonomy (i.e. it is not driven by any underlying theory that conceptually
unifies the classification – that will hopefully emerge with time, possibly with the help of
developmental structuralism).
2
The VIA strength of perspective (or wisdom) is particularly complex. Two major researchers on
wisdom are Paul Baltes and Robert Sternberg, and both relate wisdom to practical knowledge.
Sternberg’s triarchic theory of intelligence distinguishes between analytical, creative and
practical intelligence, and Sternberg argues that wisdom derives primarily from practical
intelligence (Sternberg, 2000). Baltes and his colleagues conceptualise wisdom as “an expert
knowledge system about the fundamental pragmatics of life”, by which they mean “knowledge
and judgement about the most important (fundamental) aspects of the human condition and the
ways and means of planning, managing and understanding a good life” (Baltes and Freund,
2003 p. 252). [Armon’s good life stages could offer valuable data about conceptions of the good
life as related to hierarchical stage development (Armon, 1983; Armon and Dawson, 2003)].
Others see wisdom as the result of ego maturity, postformal operational thinking and dialectical
thinking. These include developmental structuralists like Cook-Greuter, Kramer, Labouvie-Vief,
Pascal-Leone and Kitchener and Brenner – see Basset (2006) for a review. It would also seem
reasonable to speculate that individuals scoring at the highest levels of the broader stage
models of CDP - like Kegan’s Interindividual order, or Torbert’s Alchemist stage – would
demonstrate a greater degree of perspective, or wisdom, than those at earlier stages. One
relatively straightforward way to research this would be to doubly assess individuals by using,
on the one hand, Loevinger/Cook-Greuter/Torbert’s Sentence Completion Tests or Kegan’s
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subject-object interview and, on the other hand, Baltes’ ‘think-aloud protocols’. These are
wisdom-related tasks or dilemmas that are given to respondents and then evaluated by applying
the five wisdom criteria elaborated by Baltes and his colleagues.
3
Dawson et al (2006) discuss how sequences in earlier CDP models, including Kohlberg’s,
used a ‘bootstrapping’ process that led to sequences based on descriptions of reasoning, and
stages that correlated to specific conceptions. Among other problems, this distorted scoring
since the sample sizes were often small and restricted, e.g just men or Western or students.
The scales used also meant that it was only possible to study cultural differences by developing
new scales for each culture. The LAS, they argue, overcomes these problems.
4
This unidimensionality helps avoid the problem of conflation with other constructs like
personality that affects some other measures (e.g. some measures of emotional intelligence like
Goleman’s (1996) and Bar-On’s (2006).
5
Peterson and Seligman’s VIA strengths are assessed by a self-report questionnaire (the VIA
Inventory of Strengths), a VIA Structured Interview and a strengths content analysis. This last
technique is used on any written or spoken text, and is thus broadly similar to the conceptual
content analysis of the LAS. The LAS, however, adds a developmental analysis and avoids the
pitfalls of self reporting – as well as possessing high validity and reliability (See Appendix C).
Chapter Eight:
1
See chapter two for a discussion on why adult development has only relatively recently begun
to attract large number of researchers.
2
From a daft sent on 14/12/2008 by Michael Commons to the adult development listserve on
this issue: “This will be the first and only special issue of the Journal of Adult Development to
focus on the measurement of positive changes during adulthood. Most of previous work on
measuring change in adulthood examines deficiency and decline. There is now a substantial
body of evidence, however, that positive forms of development can occur at all periods of the
lifespan, including adulthood. Over the last twenty years, there has been a rapid increase in
measurement instruments that examine development during adulthood. This presents many of
these measures, describes their purpose, etiology, validity, and reliability, and explains the
appropriate methodologies for their use. Included is ego, moral, social, etc.”
3
Alexander et al (1994) discuss research findings that show that Transcendental Meditation
facilitates development through Loevinger’s stages and Piagetian processing tasks, as well as
promoting growth of self-actualisation and advanced moral development. Chapter six discussed
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how action inquiry promoted stage evelopment in an MBA programme. See also Torbert (1994)
on how action inquiry fosters postformal thought.
4
Kabat-Zinn and other researchers have studied the many positive effects of meditation, both
physical and psychological. Physical benefits include decline in blood cortisol and lactates,
reduced respiration rate, increased cerebral blood flow, greater alpha and theta brain waves,
while among the psychological benefits are improvements in memory and academic
performance, creativity, interpersonal relationships, self-worth and self-acceptance, greater
coping skills, self-actualisation, ego strength, trust in others and subjective well-being (Shapiro,
Schwartz & Santerre, 2005).